by Diem, J. C.
“Nothing that we do is by accident,” my guardian said. “Fate is guiding us all.” He didn’t sound particularly pleased about it.
“You mean she wanted me to get shot?” I said with a scowl. “What possible purpose could that serve?”
“What were you doing on the roof of the church?” he asked.
I told them what had happened and that a sniper had tried to take me out. I assumed a demon had been responsible for the second bullet. I’d put my dagger away and had been unarmed by then. It was doubtful that a human would have taken the shot.
“Detective Reynolds saw me catch you,” Nathan said. “Perhaps this event was designed to make him believe that angels and demons are real.”
I was pretty sure none of the demons had actually seen Nathan catch me. Only Reynolds had been close enough to peer over the edge after I’d fallen. Nathan had whisked us away so quickly that it was doubtful anyone else had witnessed my survival.
There was one upside to me being shot. His grace had done more than heal my wounds. The illness from the Wraith Warrior’s poison had been pushed back a bit. I’d never admit it to Nathan, but the occasional influx of his essence was probably the only thing that was keeping me alive. If he realized that, he’d offer to gift his grace to me more frequently. I knew how dangerous that would be. We were already addicted to each other. He was a drug that I couldn’t refuse once I’d had a taste and I was apparently the same for him. I shuddered to think how it would affect us if he continued to give me his essence.
“I could use some tea,” I said.
Taking the hint, Leo motioned for us to gather into a circle. Nathan would have to conserve his strength until he’d managed to recover his grace again. I hated the fact that it weakened him when he healed me. I wished I was strong enough that he didn’t need to rescue me all the time. It would be nice if I could be the one to save him for once.
₪₪₪
Chapter Nine
Sophia was in the kitchen when we arrived. She was humming something beneath her breath as she filled the teapot with water. Several empty bags sat on the counter. It seemed she’d just returned from a shopping expedition. We were all seated at the table when she entered the room a few minutes later. “I thought I heard you all arrive,” she said brightly then frowned when she saw our expressions. “Has something happened?”
“Violet was shot twice by the police,” Sam told her. Leo leaped forward to catch the tray when Sophia dropped it out of shock. He placed it on the table and set the teacups upright again.
Sophia hurried over to me even though I was obviously alive and well. She bent to give me a hug and tears pricked my eyes again. She’d become my foster mother and it was hard not to give into the urge to sob in her arms at times. “I am so glad that you survived,” she said. She smoothed my hair away from my face and kissed my forehead.
“Nathan arrived in the nick of time,” I said as she took her seat.
“Tell me everything that happened,” she ordered then poured us both tea.
I repeated the story for her benefit, skimming over how close Nathan and I had come to losing control of our growing feelings for each other. “The raven found us and sent another crazed flock to attack us,” I finished up.
Leo’s lips twitched and he came close to sniggering. “I know it is not funny, but that bird really hates you.”
“You were hovering somewhere over the city when this happened?” Sophia asked. She’d been just as surprised as the others when I’d told them that Nathan’s wings had manifested again. That only happened when I was in dire emotional or physical need.
“We were up too high for most people to have been able to see us,” Nathan said.
I thought I’d been breathless because I’d been in his arms. Maybe being so high up had contributed to it.
“I wonder how high the demon wards extend?” she said thoughtfully.
Nathan looked slightly embarrassed. “It did not even occur to me to attempt to fly away from the island.”
“I am sure your mind was on other things,” Leo said dryly. I felt a blush creep up my face again and looked down at the teacup that Sam had handed to me.
Sophia let out a small sigh. “I take it we have the raven and its feathered friends to thank for preventing you from giving Violet too much of your grace this time?”
Nathan shook his head, affronted at her lack of faith in him. “I had enough presence of mind to only give her enough to heal her.”
“Then why did you not teleport straight here after you healed her wounds?” she said almost challengingly.
Dead silence fell. Neither of us were willing to tell them the truth.
“You two need to work on your self-control,” Leo said. For once, he wasn’t joking. “There is a reason why angels are forbidden from mating with humans.”
“I know,” I snapped. “I could get pregnant with a monster and we’d both be damned.” The real truth was that I was already a monster. I was an unholy byproduct that shouldn’t exist, yet somehow did. Even worse, there were other Nephilim out there. Some of them might even be related to me. My blood ran cold at the thought that I might have younger half-brothers and sisters out there somewhere. Unlike me, they wouldn’t be half-angel, they’d only inherited their father’s evil powers.
“If you are aware of the danger, then why do you keep kissing each other?” Leo asked in exasperation.
“We have become bonded,” Nathan replied with great reluctance.
Leo wasn’t the only one to gape at him. Sophia did as well. “What do you mean?” she asked. It was obviously a foreign concept to her.
“I have infused Violet with so much of my grace that I have begun to crave being near her. I feel like she is a part of me and it is painful to be separated from her.”
This time, my tears overflowed and I couldn’t stop them from falling. I put my hands over my face as crushing guilt overwhelmed me. “This is all my fault,” I moaned. He was going to go too far one day and I’d strip him of his essence completely. When that happened, only the shell of the man I loved would be left.
Sam put his hand on my shoulder and Leo moved to take the other seat beside me. “None of this is your fault,” Leo said almost fiercely. “Fate chose you to be her champion. You did not ask for this.”
“Yet we are stuck with her,” a familiar voice said sourly. I dropped my hands to see Brie had arrived. She spent less time with us these days, but she’d been sent to spy on us by Hagith and Orifiel. “Do I even want to know what disaster has befallen you this time?”
“Just watch the news tonight,” I said spitefully. “I’m sure someone caught the whole thing on their cell phone.”
“I would rather hear it directly from you,” she replied snottily.
Her vessel was a twin for Leo’s and their faces were very nearly identical. Only their expressions differed. While Leo cared about me and classed me as his friend, she hated me almost as much as the raven did. I was too flawed for her liking. She’d expected me to be a cold, hard warrior. It had been a shock for her that I’d been an untried teenager when Sophia had sent her and Leo to find me.
“I’m not telling the story again,” I said and picked up my cup. “Someone else can fill you in.” My face was no doubt smeared with mascara, but I didn’t care. If I left the table now it would feel like I was running away from her. I was too stubborn to give her the satisfaction of chasing me away.
Brie looked at Leo and raised her eyebrow imperiously. He clenched his jaw and looked away. He was still hurting that she’d chosen to side with Hagith and Orifiel rather than with us. “Is anyone going to tell me what happened or do I have to retrieve Hagith and get her to ask you?” she demanded.
Leo’s shoulders hunched at the veiled threat and Sam shot her a poisonous look. Nathan turned to stare at her coldly. Sophia’s expression was disapproving, but she motioned to Brie’s chair. “Take a seat and I will update you.” Her tone was slightly cool.
Brie flinched
when Leo edged his chair away from hers. She lifted her head proudly, ignoring everyone in favor of Sophia.
The clairvoyant filled her in on everything that had happened quickly and succinctly. There was no point lying or trying to brush over the worst of the details. The angels would find out the real story eventually. Plenty of people had witnessed the event, after all.
Stunned to hear what had transpired, Brie stared at me in astonishment. “How could you be so careless? Humanity is counting on you to save them from the coming apocalypse, yet you endanger everything because you cannot keep your hormones in check!”
I was confused for a moment. I wasn’t sure how kissing Nathan had endangered humanity.
“You have been told over and over not to continue to see this boy, yet you choose to ignore our warnings,” Brie continued. Her nostrils flared in rage and I realized she was talking about Zach. She believed my date with him had caused the latest disaster to unfold. “What will it take for you to learn that your needs are not important? Nobody cares whether you are happy or not. Your task is to kill the Princes of hell and to take down their leader, not to exchange saliva with an insignificant human!”
All eyes were on her and none of them were friendly.
“ We care about Violet’s happiness,” Leo told her coldly. “She is more than just a puppet to us. We love her and we will do everything we can to see that she does not spend what is left of her short life in misery.”
I sucked in a shocked breath and his face crumbled when he realized what he’d said. His gaze flew to Sophia and I turned to see she’d gone ghostly white. “What haven’t you told me?” I said in a near croak. I knew she occasionally had visions, but it seemed she hadn’t shared them all with everyone. Nathan and Sam had both tensed up and were waiting for her answer. Apparently, she’d only confided in Leo about what she’d seen.
“My visions are not always completely accurate,” she hedged.
“Tell me what you saw,” I insisted. Sam and Leo held my hands and I squeezed theirs tightly as I waited for the bad news.
“I saw what will happen to you once the Wraith Warrior’s toxin spreads too far,” she said. Closing her eyes, she shuddered, but forced the words out. “Your skin will turn black when your insides reach the end stages of putrefaction. When that happens, nothing will be able to save you and you will die.” Her tone was final and damning.
“How long do I have left?” I asked numbly.
Her shoulders rose and fell in a hesitant shrug. “I am not sure, but I doubt that you will survive until the end of the year.” Even Brie was stunned speechless by that. The look she gave me bordered on pitying. Sam voiced a low moan and I felt him tremble. Leo had already known and he bowed his head in grief.
I would turn eighteen in November and now it didn’t look like I’d even make it to that milestone. I met Nathan’s eyes and saw his dread and desolation at the thought of losing me. We were the only two people in our group who knew there was supposedly a cure for the toxin. If I didn’t find it in time, the damage from the toxin would become irreversible.
₪₪₪
Chapter Ten
Leaving the table, I trudged upstairs to the bathroom. Just as I’d expected, mascara was smeared around my eyes. Black tracks trailed down to my jaw. They reminded me of the scar that marred my stomach.
Filling the sink with warm water, I washed my makeup off. While I was still pale, I didn’t look as ill now. Once again, Nathan had pushed back the rot that was slowly spreading through me with his grace. I’d come very close to siphoning all of his essence when he’d healed me after I’d been stabbed by the Wraith Warrior. Not even that had been enough to get rid of the taint.
Sensing someone watching me, I turned to see Leo standing in the doorway. He shuffled his feet and watched me hesitantly. “I am sorry you learned about Sophia’s vision that way.”
“That’s okay,” I said with a shrug. “I’m glad she told me. Now I know how long I have left to find and kill the Princes of hell and to hunt down their new overlord.”
He shook his head in wonder and shifted aside to let me out. “You are taking this better than I had expected. Most people would have given up rather than continuing on their mission.”
“The whole world will pay if I give up. Fate gave me this job and I’m going to see it through to the end.” My tone was grim and determined.
The TV was on, which meant Sam was in the living room. I didn’t want to head back downstairs and suffer beneath Brie’s disapproving looks. Leo followed me into the living room and Sam made room for us. I sank down onto the couch and the two boys sat closely beside me, offering me their comfort and support. I’d never really had friends before and it was nice to have people watching my back.
I stared at the screen without taking in the program. My mind was focused on my mission. I’d found four of the nine pieces of the mystery object so far and I’d killed three out of eight Demon Princes. That meant I still had five pieces of the puzzle and five princes left to kill. It was a daunting task considering I had less than a year to pull this off.
“What do you think Hag and Orifice are planning?” I whispered to Leo. Brie was still downstairs and I didn’t want her to overhear us.
“I do not know,” he whispered back. “I heard your name mentioned, but I did not hear what they were intending to do. I had the sense that whatever it is will not be pleasant for you.”
I let out a sigh. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” It was a rhetorical question and he didn’t answer. “How many angels have they gathered so far?”
“I am not sure. I did not enter their base. We are not supposed to know where it is and it would not have been good if they caught me snooping around.”
“Gee, if we only had someone on our team who could practically turn himself invisible,” I joked and looked at Sam.
Engrossed in his program, Sam sensed me staring at him and tore his eyes away from the screen. “What?” he asked suspiciously. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Never mind,” I replied with a grin. “We’ll discuss it later when it’s safe.” I meant when the snitch was gone and we could talk freely.
That made Leo sad and he slumped back against the couch. “How did everything go so wrong?” he asked forlornly.
“It isn’t like the angels are our enemies,” I pointed out. “They just have a different agenda to us.” Hagith and Orifiel were more concerned with stopping their kind from being harvested than in saving humanity from being enslaved or destroyed.
“God might have left the planet, but I do not believe that he has abandoned us completely.”
“Why not?”
“He created the universe and everything in it.”
I wasn’t getting his point. “So?”
“That means he also created Fate. He set her in your path and she is guiding your steps. He told Nathan that he was giving us one last chance to save this world. Hagith, Orifiel and Brie know that you are the sword that he is using. That is why they can only see you as a tool.”
Astonished by his insight, I didn’t have anything to say to that. It was strange enough to know that Fate had chosen me to be her warrior. The concept that God had put her up to it had never entered my mind. I was a Nephilim, a hybrid that God despised. Why would he choose me to save the world? It didn’t make any sense, so I pushed it away for now. I’d deal with this revelation at a later date.
When Sam elbowed me in the side an hour or so later, I focused on the screen to see my own face on display. It was a photo that a tourist had taken of me when we’d been fleeing along the High Line. My eyes were wide and I looked like I was snarling when I was actually trying not to barf or pass out.
“I hate to say it, but you look a little crazed,” Leo said solemnly.
Sam sniggered and I joined him. It wasn’t funny to be on the news again, but I couldn’t help but laugh. It was either that, or start crying.
“What is going on up here?” Brie demanded fro
m the doorway. She stomped into the room and put her hands on her hips as she watched the news story.
“It is unknown how Violet Harper escaped from captivity after being transferred to Denver,” the reporter said, “but she is currently at large somewhere in Manhattan. If you see her, notify the police immediately. She is deemed to be armed and dangerous and is wanted for questioning in regard to several murders and disappearances.”
Brie turned to stare at me. “Congratulations,” she said flatly. “You have now managed to destroy your ability to remain unnoticed. How are you supposed to find the remaining portals with every man, woman and child on the lookout for you?”
“Do not forget the raven,” Leo added in a mock scolding tone. “It will have its feathered allies scouring the city as well. For all we know, rats and other vermin might also be searching for you. The Hellmaster has eyes everywhere,” he added in a hoarse whisper.
Sam’s shoulders shook in laughter that he struggled to muffle behind his hands. Brie turned her glare on him. “What are you laughing at, imp? It is your fault that she nearly died before she could complete her task. The only use you serve is to scurry around in the shadows like a coward, or to hide you both from view like cockroaches that flee when the lights are turned on.”
I was on my feet and had grabbed her by the shirt before she could blink. “And all you’re good for is spying on us and running to your superiors to tattle like a five-year-old brat.”
Rage flared in her eyes and she called on her sword. My dagger appeared in my hand and she sprang back from me. We both swung at the same time, but our blades never met. Leo caught his twin and dragged her away and Sam wrapped his arms around me to stop me from lunging forward.
Nathan materialized with Sophia and they stepped between us. My guardian’s eyes were cold as he took in Brie’s weapon. She glanced at it guiltily and made it disappear. “I was not going to harm her,” she said stiffly. “I was simply trying to frighten some sense into her.”